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Rome Fell? Blame FDR!

Well, not FDR personally, but his pinko socialistic policies, definitely! So argues Pia Varma in an article [p. 1; p. 2] in Glenn Beck's Fusion magazine...(as reported by MediaMatters). For example, while considering what brought Rome to the point where Julius Caesar crossed the Rubicon, Varma highlights the importance of the Gracchi:

To make matters worse, in the middle of the Second Century B.C., two brothers with great political ambition came to power. The Gracci [sic] brothers emerged from the Populares Party. They understood that they could gain enormous amounts of political power by making grand promises and using propaganda and charisma to woo the Roman citizens. They promised grain at prices below market and, eventually, for free. They promised to redistribute land, and they put into place sweeping "New Deal" like social reforms, which increased the welfare state. Essentially, you name it, they probably promised it. As a result of these progressive reforms, farmers rushed to live in the cities for their free grain and slaves were freed in order to qualify for the dole.

For some reason, the Roman Empire only lasted 200 years, according to this article, and yet it also survived to be destroyed again, I guess, by Diocletian:

Roman Emperors, such as Diocletian, began grasping at straws: regulating industry and trade, nationalizing businesses and fixing prices and wages. However, despite all the concerns from the more rational members of the Senate, Rome continued to collapse. Cicero had even warned, "The budget should be balanced. Public debt should be reduced. The arrogance of officialdom should be tempered, and assistance to foreign lands should be curtailed, lest Rome becomes bankrupt."

So there you have it, the breakdown of the Roman Republic (and maybe the breakdown of the American Republic) in a nutshell. We've modeled our government after Rome, we looked at the writings of Roman philosophers like Cicero and Cato to create our Constitution, we got terms like "senate" and "citizen" from Latin. We even designed our nation's capital after Roman architecture. And, in a way, Washington, Jefferson, Adams, Franklin and others gave us the ultimate "mulligan" when they founded America. But they also warned us of what happened to Rome and urged us not to go in the same direction. And what did we do? Like sheep and cowards, we didn't listen, didn't learn from past mistakes and, eager for security and temporary quick fixes, have been voting ourselves back into bondage ever since.

American, wake up! We don't want to be Rome! Let's not forget that this shining city on a hill ultimately burned down with Nero fiddling away!

As our leaders in Washington stand at the bank of the Rubicon, ready to cross, we must remember Cassius's wise words in Julius Caesar when he said, "The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars but in ourselves that we are underlings."

Too much to respond to, but the creepiest aspect is that (am I wrong here?) the last bit sounds like a call to assassination...Yikes!

Comments

The Roman Empire lasted 12 saeculums. We are coming to the end of the 3rd or 4th depending on if you include the Revolutionary War but grading apples-to-apples, Roman-to-American, the USA is ending its 3rd saeculum. The Post WWII saeculum is coming to an end (pre {prescript} War { possible postscript}). In a nutshell, one society dies and another is reborn just like after Revolutionary, Civil, and WWII. This is inline with the 4 types of generations and 4 turnings of a society. Strauss and Howe RE-discovered it after western civilization stamped out recognition of saeculums on the order of the church decades ago, though it was recognized in other civilizations including the ones in the "New World" before Western Civilization even realized that the world was round. To add credibility to Strauss and Howe, they are no longer professors what are so-called business consultants on generations and turning *cough cough* in Washington DC. I would think business consultants on generations and turnings would be better suited in LA or NY, but *cough cough*, they are consultants in Washington DC.